


Transparent Changes

by orphan_account



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - High School, Ghosts, Happy Ending, M/M, Self Harm, Suicide, angst but fluff but comedy???, frank is clueless, gerard is a ghost so there’s that, gerard was a sad kid it’s sore, it takes frank an embarrassingly long to realise gerard is a ghost, mikeyway continues to be a legend, slow burn hopefully if i don’t fuck it up, sort of inspired by ahs if you squint, strap in kiddos because you’re in for a ride
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-26 03:37:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15654984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The Iero Family needed a change.Frank’s grandmother had just passed away and although it took a toll on all of the family, it hit his mother the hardest. She started seeing her mother in places they frequented while she was still alive, and so they decided to move away from the town where Frank grew up and the memories of her mother began.They managed to get a good deal on house in a city a few towns over and everything seemed to be going well. Frank’s mother had stopped seeing things, and Frank had started making friends, that was, until Frank started seeing his grandmother too.





	1. Moving Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> frank has many kevin theories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is my first frerard fic that i’ve published so hopefully it’s not too bad?? also, i’m looking for a beta, so if you’re interested, lmk.

The doors creaked and shuddered as Frank’s stepfather pressed his shoulder against them, pushing hard as he attempted to get the old solid wood to open, although they seemed rather determined on doing the opposite.

“Come on Frank,” he puffed, glancing behind him in the general direction he thought Frank was and waved his free arm around as he encouraged him to give him a hand.

Frank huffed, walking sluggishly over to his stepfather and the tall, heavy wooden door that refused to budge. He placed his own shoulder against the door and pushed with all his body strength, expecting the door to put up a fight, only to have it give way immediately and so he fell through the now open doorway, landing heavily on his side with a loud thump that echoed in the empty, high ceilinged entryway.

“What the _fuck_ ,” he groaned, wincing painfully as he moved his weight off of his shoulder and rolled onto his back.

His mother practically bolted over to his side, a deep frown planting itself on her normally wrinkle free forehead. She crouched over him, hands flying everywhere as she checked nothing was broken. Once she was satisfied—only after a lot of quietly grumbled curses from Frank and a few exasperated “I’m _fine_ mom!”s from Frank—she stood back up and eyed the long, open hallway with wide eyed full of excitement and wonder. Frank thought she looked a lot like a kid on christmas.

“Woah,” Frank said after he’d stood up and given himself the time to really get a look at the house from the inside because, jesus christ, it was big.

Frank had known the house was larger than his old house by a long shot. He’d heard the numbers and seen the photos and had to put up with his stepfather, Kevin, going on about how good of a deal they were getting, but Frank was shit at maths and the photos didn’t do it justice and when did he ever fucking listen to what Kevin was saying and just, _fucking hell_. It was _big_.

“I know right?” Kevin said happily to his right, a huge grin on his stupid face that was annoyingly chiseled and attractive and not at all like Frank’s or his father’s.

Frank sighed as he thought of his own appearance. He wasn’t ugly, he knew that, but he was hardly a fucking model. Don’t get him wrong, his father was good looking, if a bit short, and his mother still looked impossibly young and had sharp, feminine bone structure, but he couldn’t help feel as though he got the all the worst of his parents genes. He was ridiculously small and had permanent dark circles under his eyes— _thanks dad_ —and a round nose and a feminine face— _you too, mom_ —and although he was sticks and bones as a kid, once he hit thirteen if he ate anything deep fried or containing meat, he packed on pounds to no end. He wasn’t sure who he got that from, but he guessed he didn’t mind so much since it was what convinced him to go vegan in the first place.

“Wotcha thinking about Frankie?” Kevin asked him in his usual chipper irish twang that confused Frank to no end considering Kevin was from Wales. Kevin always said he caught it while staying there for a year in college, but Frank was convinced he just put it on to attract his mom and is stuck doing it. If he could just catch him somehow…

“Nothing,” Frank replied tensely. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Kevin, he did—even if he was annoyingly attractive and fucking ten foot tall and built like a gorilla with bleached platinum hair—but he really didn’t feel like explaining his insecurities to anyone, _especially_ not someone like Kevin.

He decided to break off the conversation, not wanting to deal with Kevin trying to press him for answers, and started wandering down the long hallway. He heard his mother and Kevin talking behind him, walking into the first room next to the front door and to the left—the doorway was wide and Frank was pretty sure it didn’t connect to a door at all so he guessed it was probably a kitchen or something. Not that he really cared.

On the right, there was a wide staircase that had been newly carpeted with a soft looking, deep maroon material and climbed up quickly. He cursed as he tripped up and nearly face planted the landing from going so fast. He wanted to get first choice of rooms before Kevin raced up ahead of him like the jock he was and claimed the best one. As he reached the top of the stairs his breath caught in his throat and he prayed that it was just because the house was old and dusty from being uninhabited for so long and not because he was getting sick fucking _again_.

The maroon carpet carried on all the way along the upstairs hallway and he had to stop himself from swearing aloud as he realised how many fucking doors there were. They couldn’t all be bedrooms, could they? _Only one way to find out, I guess._

Frank opened the nearest door and stepped in, looking around. The room was a good size, it had a door on the wall next to the entrance that opened up to a closet and Frank put it in as a contender in his mental list of which room he would claim as his own.

He checked a few others and while leaving a room he found out was actually a bathroom that Frank thought was unnecessarily big, _like who needs that much space to take a shit_ , noticed an opened door he could’ve sworn was shut when he first went into the room he’d just left. Curious, he left the rest of the rooms and walked towards the open doorway.

The room was empty except for a small bedside table pushed against one of the walls. Frank pulled the top drawer open, surprised to find it was actually in use. Inside was a charger for an iphone and a polaroid. Ignoring the cable, he picked up the polaroid. In the picture was of a boy, probably the same age as Frank, and an older woman sat on a bench in front of a restaurant, smiling. The woman, presumably the boy’s mother, had her arm around him and her face was full of happiness. Frank couldn’t help but think that the boy’s smile was less genuine. He was smiling wide, but it looked put on, too stiff to be real. He frowned, placing the photo back in the drawer and opened up the one below.

Frank’s eyes went wide as he took in the contents of the drawer. The first thing that came to his eyes attention was the crumpled up wads of paper, covered in dry blood. The blood looked old, as if it had been there for months at least, and he wondered why the last owners would leave this here, before he noticed something else. Underneath one of the bits of toilet paper, poking out, was a bit of metal. A razor. Frank felt a shiver run through his body as he took in the sight and shut the drawer door closed quickly.

He walked over to the large window and sat on the ledge, taking in the room. Despite the drawer and what it contained, Frank really liked the room. He couldn’t really explain it, it just felt like home. He decided that after he’d cleaned out the drawer, maybe gotten Kevin to take it out, this was where he wanted to be. After sitting on the window ledge, looking out and watching the traffic pass for a good half hour, he decided that he should probably go down and help his parents unpack.

“You choose a room yet?” Kevin called out from one of the rooms, the one Frank had assumed was the kitchen, and poked his head out the doorway.

“Yeah, it’s got a drawer in it already for some reason, so just pick any other room but that one,” Frank replied, walking into the kitchen and jumping up on the countertop next to where his mom was organising the dishes and cutlery.

“The last owners probably didn’t want it and decided to leave it in case we wanted it,” his mom said, not looking up from what she was doing. “Do you wanna keep it, or d’you want Kevin to come take it and put it to the dump?”

“Nah, I think I’ll keep it,” Frank said, surprising himself. “It’s got some stuff in it that I’ll throw out, but the drawer itself isn’t too bad.” That’s an understatement. Sure, the drawer was fine, but the dried up tissues inside it were more than just stuff left behind the previous owners. He frowned again at the thought of someone harming themselves intentionally with a blade, he’d thought about it once or twice in the past, but never gone through with it. It made him sad that other people did.

“Okay, well, there’s boxes out in the hallway, go take the ones with your name on them upstairs to your room and get started.”

Frank nodded, picking up the largest box he saw with his name on it and struggled to carry it up the stairs. Once he managed, he dropped it on the floor in the middle of his room with a heavy huff and started to get to work.

Four hours later and Frank’s room was almost completely finished. The wall’s were just a plain white so he didn’t want to paint them, and the carpets were clean, so all that really needed to be done was put his furniture in. Kevin had helped get his bed frame upstairs as well as the mattress and other heavier furniture items, but Frank had done the rest, and to be honest he was pretty proud of himself, especially given his small stature.

The room looked pretty decent, nicer and far more spacious than his old one, but not any less homely. He dropped down on his bed heavily. He could see out the window that it was still light and probably only 7pm, but the moving had taken it out of him and within minutes he fell asleep to dreams of a boy crying alone in the same room Frank slept in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and so this shit filled fic begins. i know this chapter is pretty bad but i’m a little rusty so bare with me, the good shit begins soon.
> 
> i’m also looking for a beta who would be willing to  
> 1\. spell and grammar check my writing  
> 2\. bounce off ideas because this fic hasn’t been totally planned out yet  
> 3\. just help me improve my work as they see fit
> 
> so as i said, if you’re interested in being my beta, let me know, otherwise, thank you so much for reading!! i know this chapter wasn’t great, i’ll try and improve upon it at a later date and make the rest of the chapters even better. i would really appreciate kudos or a comment, but that’s up to you!


	2. Pete and the Possessed Watter Bottle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> frank was thinking on his dream when he received a call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m still looking for a beta so if anyone’s interested feel free to hmu!!

Frank sat over his bowl of cornflakes with a frown plastered on his forehead. He was thinking about what he had dreamt last night, not really understanding what had happened.

There had been a boy, someone he recognised but couldn’t place, who had been sat in Frank’s new room crying. The room was clearly the same one, but it was different. The walls had been blue instead of white, and the furniture was completely different to Frank’s. He had been sitting on the window ledge with his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking as loud sobs racked through his whole body as Frank watched from the other side of the room. It had been as though he wasn’t in control of his body, as if he was stuck there, just watching the boy cry and not being able to do anything about it. That was when the boy looked up suddenly into Frank’s eyes and he woke up with a start, his heart beating fast and loud in his chest.

Frank was trying to understand the dream when he was interrupted by his mom walking into the kitchen, smiling tiredly at him.

“Hey mom,” he said, shovelling the now soggy cornflakes into his mouth with a look of slight disgust.

“Hey Frankie, you been up long?” She asked, going into the cupboards and taking out two teabags.

“Nah, only like ten minutes.”

Now that was a lie. Frank had woken up at four and not been able sleep again, too unsettled by his dream, but he decided not to bother his mom with it, knowing she’d think too deep into it and worry herself stupid. His mom was practically a saint. She cared too much about other people and spent so much time trying to help them she often wouldn’t even realise she herself was sick or completely worn out.

“You looking forward to school baby?” she questioned as she sat next to Frank and handed him a cup of tea.

“Yeah a bit I guess. I’m mostly just nervous though, I’ve not had to make new friends in forever.”

His mom frowned, most likely feeling guilty that she had caused the family to get up and move two hours away from their original town and so Frank was quick to reword his thoughts.

“It’s not a bad nervous. I’m not about to have a panic attack or anything,” he said, thinking back to when they used to occur almost every day. “It’s just like normal nerves, you know?”

His mom smiled, giving his shoulder a squeeze before taking the other cup of tea to the living room where Frank could hear Kevin watching TV. Frank was about to get up and put the now empty bowl into the sink when his phone started buzzing in his pocket. He took it out and checked the Caller ID, smiling at the name.

“Hey Pete.”

“Frankie, my boy! How are you? My life’s felt so empty without you already. I’ve been listening to Taylor Swift albums non stop. They really do wonders to heal a broken heart,” he whined and Frank rolled his eyes.

“As if I would ever date your fugly ass, Pete,” Frank replied, laughing at the shocked gasp that came from the other end.

“You hurt me Iero, you really do. Anyway guess wh–“

“What? Pete I think you’re breaking up.”

“Huh? I was sa–“

Frank groaned, cursing the old house and it’s overly thick walls. Standing up, he started wandering about the house, looking for a spot that would boost his signal. After checking every corner of the downstairs level for anything, he ran upstairs and decided to check his room for anything better.

“Hold on Pete,” he said, waving his phone around. “If my phone would just fucking– _aha!_ ” he called out, seeing a bar go up as he neared the window. “Okay, so what were you saying?”

“Okay so you know Jennie?” he asked as Frank sat on the window ledge. “Right well she came into school yesterday all shook and shit and everyone was all like what the fuck Jennie just tell us what’s up and it turns out she reckons she’s got a ghost or two on her hands and wants rid of them. Apparently she accidentally brought them back with her from Italy when she bought this old necklace from a second hand shop. Anyway me and Brendon are going round to hers later to suss it out. Brendon’s just looking for a pull, but I think maybe she’s right,” he rambled and Frank could tell he was secretly really looking forward to it. Pete had always believed in ghosts. One time he was convinced his water bottle was haunted and Frank had to put up with him doing experiments on it and showing him ‘the results’.

“I call bullshit.”

“Yeah well you would, you nonbeliever,” Pete replied, sounding like he was talking to someone that didn’t believe in zebras.

Frank snorted and listened to Pete go on about more random shit for the next hour before he said his mom was calling on him and he had to go. Frank said goodbye and went over to one of the boxes left unpacked and started making work of it.

A shiver made its way down his spine while he was picking up some blankets and putting them in a drawer as he was suddenly enveloped in a cold air. He wrapped his arms around himself and went over to his cupboard to retrieve a hoodie when he heard the bedroom door shut with a soft thud. He startled, head spinning quickly to stare at the door but no one was there and he couldn’t hear the telltale sounds of his mom or Kevin walking around behind it. He looked over his shoulder, but the window was shut tightly. The quiet made him uneasy and he kept his eyes trained on the door for a few more seconds before he shook his head and laughed. If it sounded a little uneasy Frank wasn’t about to admit to it.

He turned back around and got his hoodie, putting it on as he told himself he was just letting what Pete has said get to him. Ghosts weren’t real, and they definitely weren’t in the big old house Frank had just moved into. His life wasn’t _that_ fucking cliche.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooft sorry this was sorta short?? they’ll hopefully start getting longer and more interesting soon. what d’you think frank’s dream was about and what d’you think caused the door to shut? was it the wind coming in from the hallway or was it caused by something more?
> 
> i’d really appreciate kudos and comments about what you think so far, it really encourages me continue to write but it’s up to you!!


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